Ali, Gumbo, Cracker, Josie and Sharkey have a new home. The Weymouth Sealife Center in Dorset England requested 5 of our permanent residents to be transferred to their newly re-designed sea turtle habitat as educational animals. Turtle Hospital staff member Tom Luebke built each sea turtle thier own transportation box for safety and comfort. Turtle Hospital director Richie Moretti (pictured below) and administrator Ryan Butts accompanied these Green sea turtles on a British Airlines flight to their new home 4,700 miles away.

The Turtle Hospital had 17 permanent residents prior to the transfer. These sea turtles could not be released back into the wild due to their injuries. Most had suffered boat strikes that left them floating from a condition called “Bubble Butt Syndrome.” Every year The Turtle Hospital admits nearly 100 patients, of which one or two are typically considered unreleasable due to these types of injuries. Although they may never return to their home in the wild, they can still live out happy healthy lives in a facility like the Weymouth Sealife Center. In captivity they serve as ambassadors to their species, helping to spread awareness on the impact humans have on sea turtles to places around the world. This is the furthest The Turtle Hospital has ever traveled with a sea turtle.

Of the 5 transfered sea turtles, Ali had been at the facility the longest. This year marked his 9 year anniversary at the hospital. Over time Turtle Hospital staff can grow quite attached to the patients however we will always know how they are doing thanks to our friends at the Sealife Center! So if you’re in Dorset, stop by and say hello to the Florida sea turtles!

 For more on this story and to see our sea turtles in their new home please click the following link:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8473968.stm